CHICAGO (Reuters) - Children who have long, frequent or
aggressive temper tantrums may be at risk of depression or
disruptive disorders, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

They said tantrums were often the sign of a sick, hungry or
overstimulated child. For most parents, they were a normal part
of development and should be viewed as a teaching opportunity.

But parents of children who hurt themselves or others and
those who cannot calm themselves without help should seek
medical help, they found. Healthy children tended to have less
aggressive, and generally shorter tantrums.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I think parents to some degree should expect their
children to have tantrums," said Dr. Andy Belden of Washington
University School of Medicine in St. Louis, whose study
appeared in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"If they are having extreme tantrums consistently. If
almost every time they are having a tantrum they are hurting
themselves or other people, that is a valid reason to go and
talk to your pediatrician," Belden said in a telephone
interview.

His team analyzed parent reports of tantrum behaviors in
279 children aged 3 to 6. They compared tantrums in healthy
children with those in children previously diagnosed with
depression or some type of disruptive disorder, such as
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or oppositional
defiant disorder.

From their observations, Belden's team devised five
high-risk tantrum styles: Tantrums marked by self injury;
tantrums marked by violence to others or objects; tantrums in
which children cannot calm themselves without help; tantrums
lasting more than 25 minutes; and tantrums occurring more than
5 times a day, or between 10 and 20 times a month.

Of those, Belden said tantrums in which children harm
themselves were most often associated with depression and
should be considered very serious.

He said any of those high-risk behaviors would warrant a
call to the doctor.

"If it gets to the point where the parent is uncomfortable
leaving the house because they are so fearful their child will
have tantrum, that should be a sign to the parent (to seek
help)" he said.